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Matthew Stansfield, who organised the page, said: "We can't really believe the response to it to be honest.

"We started the target off as a low figure as we thought it would only be people who knew us who would donate, but it's rocketed now. "

He wrote on the page: "Our friend and colleague has three beautiful triplets who are only 18 months old and have no idea why their daddy hasn't come home yet.

"It is still early days, even though it feels like it's gone on forever, and we don't know the full extent of what the injuries are going to be, all we know is that if he manages to fight this and pull through, he will be left with serious life changing injuries and the quality of life that he will lead is still to be assessed.

"This page has been set up to try and raise money for the three girls who deserve the life that their wonderful parents had planned for them, achieving this with one household income, if that's possible, will be incredibly hard."